Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/899902
maltatoday SUNDAY 12 NOVEMBER 2017 News 3 WE HAVE MOVED Trader Marine Yacht Services Ltd. | 23 Msida Road Gzira, GZR 1401 M: +356 7949 2937 | T: +356 2134 3135 E: malta@fairline.com | W: www.fairline/malta.com MATTHEW AGIUS A female police sergeant was grievously injured after being assaulted by youths celebrating an electoral victory for centre- left students' organisation Pulse at the Junior College campus in Msida. Police said a group of unruly youths knocked over a police sergeant, after surrounding and banging on a police car in response to her stopping an 18-year-old from lighting a flare. Officers were called to the Jun- ior College at around 1:45am on Saturday morning after receiving complaints about excessive noise. The sergeant had tried to re- store calm but was assaulted and had liquids thrown at her before she was pushed to the ground, suffering at least one fracture. Junior College student council elections were held on Friday, with results announced late in the evening. Reports said the crowd let off three illegal flares during their celebrations last night. An ambulance was dispatched to the scene and the sergeant was taken to Mater Dei Hospital for treatment. Her injuries include fractures and are therefore griev- ous in nature. No arrests were made but police investigations into the incident, described as serious, are ongoing. Flare-firing students injure policewoman Unruly celebrations after student council elections led to the police being called to the Msida campus CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 And while all cars had a Datatrak device to keep track of the vehicles, his car was the only one without the tracking device. Bundy was asked by RSM to give his version of events, to which the CEO said that the PBS procurement manager had not informed him of the procurement rules by which he was bound. A ministry official, Charmaine Portelli, denied sugges- tions that she had been consulted on any decision taken by Bundy. Bundy later amended his explanation, saying that PBS management had been informed of his decision. Central to the audit was the revelation that Bundy had unilaterally secured a massive €500,000 leasing contract for motor vehicles carried out in breach of procurement rules. In minutes from a directors' meeting seen by Malta- Today, the politically-appointed CEO was said to have ignored contract rules when PBS signed 14 different contracts for a total of €500,131 to lease cars for the un- precedented duration of eight years. Bundy, a veteran television presenter hand-picked by the Labour administration without a public call, was said to have only once alerted the board of directors about the possibility of car leasing. But the contract itself was never green-lit by the board. The only time the issue had, in fact, been raised at board level was back on 18 January, 2017, when Bundy referred to the PBS car fleet. "[He] noted that the cars were now old. He had sought advice on whether to buy new cars or go for leasing, and found that it was cheaper to go for leas- ing." Bundy was said to have used a basic procedure only em- ployed for minor purchases, by obtaining three quotations from leasing suppliers. The person actually responsible for procurement, corporate services manager Edmund Ta- bone, was completely sidelined and left in the dark about the deal. In total, 14 different contracts were signed for a total value of €4,415 monthly, plus VAT: for the contract duration of eight years, the amount totals €500,131. The directors said that the leasing of cars for a period of eight years was "not considered as the norm". But government procurement regulations for such an amount obliged PBS to issue a public tender. Additionally, VAT can only be recovered on just that part of the fleet which comprises commercial vehicles. Indeed the amounts for each car – all Peugeots supplied by Burmar- rad Commercials – vary from the cheapest being €230 (plus VAT), to the highest being €600 (plus VAT), which is the CEO's car itself. According to the minutes seen by MaltaToday, one of the cars was for the exclusive use of Natalino Fenech, the former PBS head of news, who in 2013 stepped down from his po- sition after Labour's election. Fenech is now a University of Malta lecturer, but still on PBS's payroll with all perks and allowances. The PBS board of directors said they were faced with legal threats from companies when they attempted to re- verse Bundy's "arbitrary decisions". "These decisions were presented to the board as a fait accompli, and the directors were faced with threats of le- gal action against them personally and the company," they said in a letter to chairman Tonio Portughese, before the RSM audit had been carried out. PBS's board of directors later voted on a motion of no confidence against Bundy, delivering a unanimous ver- dict. In their letter to Portughese, the directors said Bundy "had, on several occasions, ignored the board of directors and taken decisions which required the approval of the board". They said Bundy's attitude towards them showed a lack of respect. "Worse than that, it shows a lack of awareness of what the relationship should be between the CEO and the board of directors, that in terms of the law have enor- mous personal responsibility for everything that happens in the company." The directors said they could no longer tolerate the situ- ation and declared they had no faith in Bundy. Last week just before his sacking, Bundy hit out at Por- tughese and the PBS board over the inquiry in a Facebook post where he dubbed the RSM inquiry as "vile". "An independent inquiry about which I get to know about in the newspapers, of which everybody but me knows about," he said, although news of the inquiry had already been published three weeks earlier. "Tonio Portughese and your clique, shame, shame, shame. You've been wanting to get rid of me… vile. The so-called PBS board met up in secret, carried out the role of judge, jury and prosecutor, and condemned me without calling in the accused, and then carried out an independ- ent inquiry to see if I am guilty." mvella@mediatoday.com.mt PBS deal increased nine-car fleet to 14, all tracked except for Bundy's Soft endorsement: with Joseph Muscat in the 2013 elections, where he compered a Q&A session